Sometimes she woke during the night and asked whether her pain was coming back.
I reassured her.
Her follow-up appointment showed that she was healing well.
A few weeks later, she returned to school part-time.
Curtis wanted to act as though things were returning to normal.
He bought her flowers.
He offered to take her shopping.
He asked whether she wanted him to drive her to school.
Sadie thanked him, but she kept her distance.
One afternoon, he asked her to sit with him in the living room.
“I want to apologize,” he said.
Sadie looked at him.
“Okay.”
“I was wrong about your pain. I shouldn’t have dismissed you.”
She remained quiet.
“I was dealing with money problems, and I panicked.”
Sadie looked down at her hands.
“You told me not to tell Mom.”
“I know.”
“You said she would make everything worse.”
Curtis swallowed.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
